Pitch quality among factors for Harimau Malaya's success - Safee
30 Mar 2023 01:12pm
Former national striker Safee Sali - FILEPIC
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Former national striker, Safee Sali believes that good pitch conditions such as at the sacred ground of the Super League champions, Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT), are able to boost the performance of the national squad and record victories in the matches they play in.
"Of course there are changes in terms of performance, especially the attack and 'pressing' in the front and the compatibility between the players is also getting better, but what is important is the good condition of the pitch.
"If the pitch is not good, it will be difficult for us to play. So with the advantage of a quality pitch, our team is able to go further," he said when met at an iftar event organised by the Professional Players Association of Malaysia (PFAM), here, yesterday.
Malaysia, guided by South Korea,n coach Kim Pan Gon, started the friendly action campaign by overcoming Turkmenistan, 1-0, on March 23, before closing the FIFA international matches window with a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong on Tuesday (March 28). Both matches were played at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.
Meanwhile, Safee believes the quality of local players such as Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid and Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim is comparable to the naturalised players fielded including Paolo Josue and Endrick Dos Santos in the two friendly matches.
Safee, who is also PFAM president, said that although Muhammad Akhyar did not play much at the club level, his experience playing with Harimau Malaya, including the previous high-intensity playing style, really helped him adapt well with the national team.
In a separate development, PFAM Chief Executive Officer Izham Ismail said the Melaka United FC and Sarawak United FC teams will be tried at the National Dispute Resolution Chambers (NDRC) level on April 6 after failing to pay their players' salary arrears.
He said Melaka United have salary arrears of more than RM1 million while Sarawak United less than RM500,000 involving 20 players who are covered under PFAM from the two clubs.
"We have sent several letters to them (Melaka United and Sarawak United) but there is no space or initiative to solve the problem.
"So, PFAM had to use the next step which is the law. We hope there will be a decision from the NDRC hearings next week before taking these cases to court," he said.
Melaka United and Sarawak United were dropped from the Super League 2023 when the two clubs' application for a National Licence were rejected following the problem of salary arrears last season - BERNAMA
